Thursday, September 17, 2009

UN Commissions and Realpolitik

No sane person in the world believes that the United States, Russia orChina could be subjected to purist international law. The United States haskilled thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the lastfew months encouraged Pakistan to make an extremely brutal military move in itsSwat Valley. The United States was not required to account for it becauseeveryone understands that this is the price of the terrible War on Terror.Russia committed blood-curdling war crimes in Chechnya, while China deprives itscitizens of basic rights and is conducting a wicked occupation in Tibet. Theyare not asked to pay for this because everyone understands that you don't messwith superpowers.

Meanwhile, the folks who deal with real power, such as the prime minsiter, foreign minister, the relevant ambassadors, those sort of people, are injecting the issue into their dealings with their American counterparts. You want our cooperation on this that and the other? Well, here's another item on the list of things that need to be dealt with. (It's also in the American interest to block the human-rights-wrong-headeds, given the way America wages war).

These are among the reasons the Jews need their own sovereign state. So that when antisemites try to kill Jews they'll be killed themselves; and when their allies - the antisemites, the hypocrites and the befuddled - try to protect them they'll fail. It's a nasty world out there, and hoping for the best of human nature is a fools errand. Or worse.

ah, but Ari Shavit is not Haaretz - for better or for worse the times when you could judge a newspaper by its writers and vice versa is past. I've found Ari Shavit repeatedly to be capable of reality based thinkingthere are so few of those around that once you have listened to one of them their names stickrgds,Silke